As we’ve been going through the renovation process, setting goals, reviewing design proposals, and building information architecture, we’ve depended for advice on the members of the Web Renovation Working Group, including representatives from all divisions of the college.

They have been especially helpful in reworking the site navigation. White Whale has reviewed the organization of our site and made recommendations for revisions to the navigation (menus) as well as detailed recommendations for the content of top level pages.

Now we’re working with members of the working group to get feedback on the recommendations and settle on new menus where needed. It can be frustrating at times (do we call them “Majors & Minors” or “Departments & Programs”?), but the results are very satisfying. Of course, once we’ve created a beta version of the site we’ll invite the entire campus in to let us know how well we did!

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Another selection from White Whale’s strategic recommendations for the renovated Wheaton web site:
“What differentiates Wheaton, in the end, is not the beauty of its buildings or the pedigrees of its faculty (although both of those are impressive)— it’s the people of the Wheaton community. Again and again, when people at Wheaton talked about their [...]

Of course Wheaton’s web renovation is more than just a new look. It’s also about making our website work harder for us.
Our consultant team visits a lot of college campuses. After spending time at Wheaton, they told us that they were struck by the strong sense of community here, and the genuine, friendly and helpful [...]

In the past year we’ve heard over and over that Wheaton students, faculty, staff and alumnae/i are doing great quantities of wonderful things, but most of them never make it to the web site. You don’t have to know much about fishbone diagrams to realize that there are many causes for this state of affairs. [...]

As we’re rethinking the design of the Wheaton web site we’re also rethinking its organization and navigation. White Whale’s recommendations sometimes sound simple and obvious, but following them carefully will make a difference. Here are a few samples. If you manage a department web site, please consider the implications for your site.

Navigation should not reflect [...]

Another selection from White Whale’s strategic recommendations for the renovated Wheaton web site:
“Wheaton’s campus evokes something different, and meaningful, in everyone who sees it. A prospective student in Texas sees the New England autumn that she’s only read about. A future faculty member browsing from the Boston suburbs will see a welcome respite [...]

After taking some time to digest what they heard on campus, our consultants at White Whale have delivered a set of strategic recommendations for the renovated Wheaton web site. Their first recommendation really resonates with me–it’s a nice twist on the Wheaton Way:
“As we go through the process of designing and developing this site, we [...]

Thank you to everyone who contributed to last week’s web renovation conversations! The Web Team, with help from White Whale, gathered an enormous amount of community input in more than twenty meetings with more than 80 Wheaton students, faculty and staff.

We need your ideas and observations about the Wheaton web site. Please take time from your busy schedule to help shape the next Wheaton web. We’re holding an open idea session for staff on Friday 4/24 from 11 am to noon in the May Room in Mary Lyon and a faculty open session on Wednesday [...]

We received many questions after our recent announcement. Here are a few…